Any must know advice?

You can start by thinking of what type of wedding you DO want. Are you wanting a large wedding with all of your close loved ones present? Do you want to elope and have it just be you two? Or you can even have a small intimate wedding with just very close family and friends! Elopements are great for those that don't want the hassle of planning a huge wedding, and just want to celebrate with their partner.

Try to get a general idea of what your guest list would look like, and your ideal budget. I usually tell people that are easily overwhelmed to stay away from Pinterest for wedding planning because you can easily get bombarded with countless ideas, and it can be difficult to narrow down what you want for your wedding.

If you're not strong with planning, it's okay to hire a wedding planner! They're super helpful with finding vendors, communicating with them and you, helping you with design and so much more. If you don't want to pay for a wedding planner, then I suggest getting a wedding planner book. Amazon has a ton of them in different designs and they're awesome! I've used mine throughout planning and love it! It has sections for each part of the wedding and has checklists.

Ask questions on WW! We're all here to help one another, and chances are there will be someone on here with the answers you need!

Start off with a budget - how much money do you want to/are able to spend?

What kind of wedding do you want? Big or small?

Start off with venues - once you have your venue down, everything else will fall into place.

Research venues (I used wedding wire & google) - look at theme (rustic, beach, etc), price, location & what the venue includes. Narrow down your top 5 venues and schedule a tour with them. Once you have your venue - you'll be able to get a better idea of what else you need. Some venues include tables, chairs, catering, entertainment, etc. - so you won't have to plan as much. Other venues may not include anything at all - then you'll have to figure out what you need and follow the same steps that you did when you found your venue (research, tours/meetings, etc.). I hope this helps! It'll also be very helpful to get a wedding coordinator to help you along the way!

1. i would say to try to keep it simple

i know a lot of the times we get lost in the planning of details, we think that the details matter and that our guests will enjoy it. but in all honesty there's A LOT of details we can do without

2. take breaks

it is important to practice self care! it gets really easy to become overwhelmed by wedding planning so make sure to take a break and do something for yourself

We started with figuring out what type of wedding we wanted. I personally wanted to do a destination wedding, as we're from different states and one side would have to travel regardless, but he wanted a local wedding. So we decided to stay local and for that I knew I wanted the bigger celebration.

Then we figured out a budget and tentative guest list and an ideal time of year to get married. We also talked about what type of venues we wanted to look at (rustic, wineries, ballrooms, modern, etc).

Then we scheduled our venue visits. We had my FH's mom come along because she had been to a lot of weddings and she knew to ask things we would have never thought of.

Once we had a venue and a date, we talked about the big things we wanted. Most venues (including ours) have a list of preferred vendors for other services (you don't have to use them, but they're people who have worked with your venue before), we started with these to get an idea of what we wanted for other venues.

Definitely don't feel like you have to have every little detail that pinterest or wedding magazines or instagram. Take breaks. Prioritize what matters most to you and your fiance. Don't feel like you have to spend more than you can afford to have the wedding of your dreams.

Love all the advice mentioned above! One big thing is making sure you and your fiancé are on the same page. We wrote down our top important things for the wedding (ex. videographer, open bar, etc). When things become overwhelming or people share their opinions, which they'll do, you can remind yourself of the vision you both have. Do what feels true to you Also have fun! It can be stressful, so make sure to take times to rest or just focus on one thing at a time. You also have this whole group to help you along the way!

Great advice already posted. You're actually in a good position that you don't have long-standing family traditions that you "have" to include. Traditions and customs for weddings are highly specific to regions and families and there's no reason at all to include traditions that aren't personally meaningful to you and your future spouse. So, you two get to decide to include and not include only those things that you really want. Start small and don't worry about what any friends or family members say you must do.